The present invention relates to a drive unit for a motor vehicle, comprising a driving motor with an output shaft, a gearbox with an input shaft, a friction clutch with a first friction element joined to the output shaft, and a second friction element joined to the input shaft, a clutch actuator for engagement and disengagement of the clutch, and an electronic control unit for controlling the actuator dependent on signals fed into the control unit from a sensor, which senses the rotational speed of the output shaft, a sensor which senses the rotational speed of the input shaft, a sensor which senses the position of the clutch actuator, and a sensor which senses the position of a gear selector for shifting between the various gear speeds of the gearbox.
The invention also relates to a method of determining torque transmitted from a motor to the input shaft of a vehicle gearbox via a friction clutch, as a function of the position of a clutch actuator which is controlled by an electronic control unit, to which data is fed on motor rotational speed, the rotational speed of the input shaft and the position of the actuator.
In vehicles with a known type of automated friction clutches, the clutch actuator, usually a pressure medium-actuated piston-cylinder device, is activated for engagement and disengagement of the clutch, when the gear selector is moved from its neutral position to a gear-selected position or from a gear-selected position to the neutral position. For engagement, the control unit controls the clutch actuator to set the clutch at a predetermined initial position in which a desired initial torque is transmitted from the engine to the gearbox when the engine is operating at idle speed. This initial position is called the initial engagement position and constitutes a reference point for controlling the movements of the automated clutch. The accelerator pedal of the vehicle in this case works as a xe2x80x9creversedxe2x80x9d clutch pedal. As the throttle is opened from idle, the clutch engagement gradually increases from the initial engagement position to full engagement.
The initial engagement position is defined here as a determined position of the clutch actuator. During the operation of the vehicle, the clutch discs are worn down, so that the transmitted torque at an originally set initial engagement position of the clutch actuator is changed. It is known in this respect to arrange in the vehicle a control by means of which the driver can manually change the initial engagement position of the clutch actuator to compensate for disc wear. Wear and the required changing of the initial engagement position of the clutch actuator to compensate for wear do not follow each other, i.a. due to a non-linear characteristic in certain types of compression springs which are often used in vehicle clutches, e.g. disc springs. Other changes which affect the transmission of torque and which can warrant a change in the initial engagement position of the clutch actuator are, for example, a change in the friction in the clutch discs and changes in temperature. The initial engagement position is thus dependent on the individual and will therefore often vary in different vehicles of the same type.
Through EP-A-0 725 225 it is known to allow a computer in the control unit to calculate the touch point in an automated friction clutch, thereby eliminating variations due to manual adjustment. Starting from the lowest rotational speed which the gearbox tachometer can sense, the clutch actuator is moved at constant speed towards the engagement position. Based on the moment of inertia of the rotating masses, a linear relationship between the torque transmitted by the torque and the position of the clutch (the clutch actuator), a clutch touch point is calculated, which serves as an initial position. This position is stored in the computer memory.
This method requires an actuator or a clutch servo unit, which can be regulated at constant speed during the measuring process, and an electric step motor is suggested as an example. Commonly occurring pneumatic clutch servo units are not suitable in this context. Furthermore, a linear relationship is presupposed between the torque transmitted by the clutch and the position of the clutch or its operating means. The linearity is, however, affected by a number of different factors, such as the type of coating on the clutch discs and the type of compression springs of the clutch pressure plate. The method is thus not as accurate in clutches where one cannot assume a linear relationship between the torque and the position.
One purpose of the present invention is to achieve a drive unit of the type described by way of introduction with an automated friction clutch which, as does the above described known clutch device, eliminate the need for manual adjustment of the initial engagement position, but which, in contrast to the known clutch device, can utilize a servo unit in the form of a conventional pressure medium regulated piston-cylinder device at the same time as greater control precision can be achieved.
This is achieved according to the invention by virtue of the fact that there are stored in the control unit values of torque transmitted by the clutch as a function of the position of the actuator, and that the control unit is disposed firstly, when the gear selector is moved from its neutral position to a gear-selected position, to calibrate the actuator to a reference position which provides a predetermined desired value of the torque, and secondly, at regular intervals in the neutral position of the gearbox, to check the actual value of the torque at said reference position of the actuator and, if there is torque deviation from the desired value, to adjust the reference position, so that the actual value of the torque is moved towards the desired value.
A method of determining said torque curve is characterized according to the invention in that the clutch actuator, starting from a disengaged position in which the input shaft is completely disengaged, is set to a first engagement position in which torque is transmitted via the friction clutch to the input shaft, measuring the time from a predetermined lower rotational speed of the input shaft until the input shaft has reached a predetermined higher rotational speed, that the clutch actuator is thereafter, starting from a release position, set at least one other engagement position different from the first engagement position, measuring the time from a predetermined lower rotational speed of the input shaft until the input shaft has reached the same predetermined higher rotational speed, that the torque in said first and second engagement positions is calculated on the basis of the moment of inertia and the angular acceleration of the gearbox masses rotating in the neutral position, and that a torque curve as a function of the clutch actuator position is interpolated and/or extra-polated based on the calculated torque values.
In order to take into account a non-linear relationship between the torque and the position of the clutch actuator, the clutch actuator is set, during the first calibration of the control unit in more than two, preferably at least five different engagement positions for extracting the torque curve.
The method according to the invention permits the use of position-regulated pneumatic clutch actuators in existing pneumatic systems. These are less expensive and more rapidly adjusted than speed-regulated electroservo units, for example. A constant position of the operating means in the measuring positions is obtained by position feedback control, similar to closing a valve in the air supply line, while constant speed in a pneumatic clutch servo is more difficult to achieve. By measuring, in accordance with the invention, at various constant positions of the actuator, it is possible, in a simple manner, to achieve higher precision than when measuring during movement of the actuator.
The greatest precision in the method according to the invention can hereby be achieved if the torque loss in the gearbox is determined, by starting from a completely engaged clutch, setting the actuator to its completely disengaged position, measuring the time taken for the gearbox rotating masses to go from a predetermined maximum rotational speed to a predetermined minimum rotational speed, and calculating the torque in said first and second engagement positions as the sum of the accelerating torque and the torque loss.